Congress toughens penalties for foreign-directed violence against Americans
S. 1136 — DETERRENCE Act · Filed by Maggie Hassan (D-NH) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 26, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill adds sentencing enhancements (additional prison time) to seven existing federal crimes—kidnapping, murder-for-hire, threats against federal officials and their families, stalking, attacks on federal officers, and assassination or kidnapping of the President—when the offense is knowingly directed by or coordinated with a foreign government or its agents. The enhancements range from 2.5 to 10 additional years depending on the crime and severity. Citizens and law enforcement benefit by having stronger deterrents against foreign-directed attacks on U.S. persons and officials; foreign adversaries are the intended targets.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is adding prison time to existing federal crimes when proven to involve foreign-government direction or coordination. It is a straightforward criminal-law enhancement with no riders, subsidies, or regulatory carve-outs.
What the text implies
- Prosecutors must prove 'knowing' direction or coordination with a foreign government—a high evidentiary bar that may limit enhancement use in practice, potentially creating disparities in how the law is applied across jurisdictions.
- The bill does not define 'foreign government' or 'agent of a foreign government,' leaving room for prosecutorial interpretation and potential disputes over whether non-state actors, proxy forces, or private entities acting with foreign backing qualify.
- Conspiracy and attempt provisions require proof that the defendant knew of the foreign-government nexus, which may be difficult to establish and could lead to lengthy trials or acquittals on the enhancement even when the underlying crime is proven.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill strengthens criminal penalties for offenses coordinated with hostile foreign governments, protecting ordinary citizens and federal officials from foreign-directed violence and coercion. The enhancements are narrowly tailored to crimes already illegal and apply only when a foreign-government nexus is proven, creating no new restrictions on lawful conduct.
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorneys' Offices, Federal courts, Foreign governments (as defined in 18 USC)
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Mar 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 26, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S3322-3323)”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S3322-3323)”
- Jun 10, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Border Management, Federal Workforce…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $290,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 89 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Maggie Hassan, the sponsor, reported $608,285 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Fdd Action — $290,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,418 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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